Alexandru Topolenko, who intends to run as an independent in single-member constituency No. 36 Ștefan-Vodă, said he wasn’t registered as an electoral contender for political reasons. The Ștefan-Vodă district electoral council rejected his file for the reason that he was short of one signature.

In a news conference at IPN, Alexandru Topolenko said that after he submitted a complaint to the Central Election Commission and this ordered to review his lists of signatures so as to find the only signature needed for him to be registered, the Ștefan-Vodă district electoral council requested him to bring the copies of the identity cards of four citizens whose signatures were annulled for the reason that the document issuing date was indicated instead of the signing date. After reviewing the lists, the Ștefan-Vodă district electoral council annulled another five signatures of the 499 that were declared initially valid and no longer took into account the four copies of identity cards that proved that four signatures that were initially annulled were authentic.

Alexandru Topolenko noted that by the decision to reject his registration as a runner in the parliamentary elections, the Ștefan-Vodă district electoral council ignored the wish of 562 people who signed in support of him. The 562 signatures he collected were put by real people and the fact that some of the signatures on the lists weren’t identical to the signature on the identity card or the document issuing card was indicated instead of the signing date could have been due to inattention, especially because the signatures were gathered in winter, in difficult weather conditions.

Alexandru Topolenco also said that he will not give up and will challenge the decision not to register him as an electoral contender in court.

To run for MP in single-member constituencies, the aspirants must present 500 to 1,000 signatures of supporters to the local electoral body. The female candidates must present 250 to 500 signatures. The collected signatures could have been submitted for verification by January 24.